Bilateral Cleft Lip Repair - Advantages of Pfeifer's Technique.

CONTEXT: Primary repair of bilateral cleft lip depends on the sound knowledge of anatomy, identification of landmarks, clinical variation of presentation, surgical expertise of the operator, etc., Herewith, we present the results of 129 cases performed during our study. AIM: To evaluate the advantages of Pfeifer's technique in bilateral cleft lip repair. DESIGN: This was a retrospective analysis of the results of repair. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study was carried out on 129 patients using Pfeifer's technique. Pfeifer described a technique which involves changing the lip skin incision to a wavy line, thus making it less conspicuous, using the concept of "morphological order." The basis of this technique is, a skin incision between two points can be lengthened if both points are joined in a curved or wavelike manner rather than in a straight line. RESULTS: Lip parameters improved by 70% as viewed in frontal profile in terms of white roll match, vermilion match, and Cupid's bow. Nasal parameters improved by 80% as viewed in basal view in terms of alar symmetry, nasal dome and alar base. CONCLUSIONS: We found four advantages by strict adherence to the steps in the technique as given in the available literature. This technique is easy to learn and teach with satisfactory results.

Concentrated Bone Marrow Aspirate-Coated Hydroxyapatite for Reconstruction of Small-to-Moderate-Sized Mandibular Defects Caused by the Removal of Benign Pathologies.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the bone regeneration potential of concentrated bone marrow aspirate (BMA)-coated hydroxyapatite (HA) for reconstruction of mandibular defects caused by the removal of benign pathologies. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This prospective clinical study included ten patients with histopathologically proven benign pathologies of the mandible measuring <5 cm anteroposteriorly, who were treated with enucleation or marginal resection, followed by autologous concentrated BMA-coated synthetic biphasic HA (HA and beta-tricalcium phosphate) graft placement. Clinical and radiological evaluations of grafted sites of the mandible were done at 1 week, 1, 3, and 6 months postoperatively using Irwin's radiologic staging and grayscale histogram. RESULTS: All patients (10/10, 100%) had proper incorporation of the graft with the normal adjacent bone. Grayscale histogram revealed the initial stages of graft resorption, followed by formation of new bone-grafted sites. No complications such as infection and total graft loss were encountered except for one patient who had partial wound dehiscence that responded well to local wound care and resuturing. CONCLUSION: Concentrated BMA-coated synthetic HA effectively promotes bone regeneration in small-to-moderate-sized defects of the mandible.